Back around July 25th I posted a thread about trying to get my son's tiller cranked after he had let it set up too long. At that time neither I nor Sherry's youngest son could get it to crank so my son said to just junk it and he'd get another one next spring.

My son couldn't find the owners manual and I couldn't find anything on the internet at all so I contacted Tillotson in Ireland and they offered some information and advice so I found a kit that was close but not exactly the one for that tiller. Since my computer is down I decided to install the kit and see what happens.

This carb is a ?diaphram? type and doesn't have a float or needle valve and I was in foreign territory so I just replaced everything that looked like it would work and low and behold that little ^#@^&#@ cranked like a dream. However, the throttle linkage doesn't work because of a puny/weak spring so I'll need to drain the tank and fix that and then I should be good to go.

Don'tcha just love it when things WORK the way you planned??????

meller

P.S. I think I'll give him back his RUNNING TILLER for a Christmas Present this year !hahahahahahaha

I have to do something with my mower; started it the other day and let it sit on choke for too short of a time (Iusually let it run on chioke for at least a minute or more) well, I got in a hurry and pulletd the throttle back to run and the thing died, and now it won't even try to start. Guess I'm going to have to get it up on a table of sorts and pull the spark plug and see if I broke something inside.

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Rrumbler - Broken and grouchy, but not dead - yet.
Bangin' and twistin' on stuff for some sixty years or so.

yeah i saw that. i got it all out mego. when i get bundled up you cant even see no hide. hahaha. im never ready for the cold but i got spring to look foward to.its gona suck workin on the shack in the cold but i got it to do. no more waitin. i got most everthing i need. just need more azz to get er done.speakin of. its dang near daylite. hahaha. no more dr's this week so i mite even get somethin done. i pulled 2 5 galon buckets and 2 big coffee cans of nails. oh and a oil drain pan too. i dont care if i ever pull another dang nail.

OK, drained the tank, took it off and after much looking/thinking/and redneck reasoning, I decided that someone had been into this before I got it and had left some parts off of the linkage. After studying for a while, I came up with a plan and using a straightened paper clip and a spring that was hanging on the linkage when I took it apart, I designed a throttle pull and a throttle return spring and it works great. However, when I do "ANYTHING" I must always adhere to the "Murphy Tradition" and this morning was no different. I put it back together, put some gas in it and yanked on the starter rope until I was sweating like a prostitute on dollar night. When Murphy finallyh decided to leave me alone, I FLIPPED THE KILL SWITCH TO ON and it cranked right up and ran like a charm. Still need to set the idle screw a little faster but other than that it's a finished job.

OK, this project is fixing to get a big red bow and it will be David's Christmas present this year. It will also be a total surprise because he thinks that I hauled it off to the dump and he was planning on buying a new one next Spring.

Whoever worked on it the last time lost the carb linkage which I had to make and the air filter. I fabricated an air filter for it from some scrap sponge, fiber-glass, foam rubber sheeting and vinyl screen. Shot it with some rattle can flat black and it looked pretty good if I say so myself but not as good as if my NW connection woulda whooped it up outa polished aluminum stock.

I only use "Super" gas in all my yard equipment and ATV now. Not sure if it's the same everywhere but it doesn't have the same crap in it that regular fuel has.

A year or two ago we were having all kinds of problems keeping the ATV's running at work. We buy our gas in bulk because we use a lot of it in the winter months...well, by June the problems would start. Our fuel supplier told us to buy the high octane fuel because the regular fuel had ethanal and after a sitting in the bulk tank for a while would go bad faster than the "old" regular fuel. I thought he just wanted to sell us a more expensive product but it turns out he doesn't even carry regular anymore because he had so many problems with it. Switching fuels made all the difference in the world.Some small engine products require high octane, my Stihl chainsaw clearly states in the owners manual to use it. It's more money but worth the saved aggrevation. I will run regular fuel in my ATV if I buy it fresh and know that I'm going to use the whole tank within a short time.

You said it, 2low, and I'm afraid that it's just gonna get worse and worse and before long "nothing" will run on regular. I try and use up all the 2cycle gas during the season and if I don't then I dump it on ant beds and places that I don't want grass to grow. However, the wife won't let me spray the entire yard with it just yet

Have you seen that pre-mix fuel that you can get a O'Rielly's ? It runs about $22 a gallon but would be worth it on something like my chain saw that I don't use that often anyhow. If I had my way about it everything would be 4 cycle but I know that's not feasible with some equipment.

Since we're on the subject of 2cycle mixing - - - - I noticed that there's a lot of oil coming from the muffler on that tiller so I googled it and it said that the mix is too oily. My son told me that it was 20:1 and I had never heard of that mix ratio but I went ahead and mixed up some gas/oil with that ratio. The blog that I found said that "if oil comes out of the muffler - - go to a 40:1 ratio" - - - - what do Y'all think about that????

If you put that STA-BUILT additive in the gas ,, it keeps the moisture out of the fuel.. That Ethenal cap absorbs water, even from moisture in the air,, and then isn't any good,,,

also Stabuilt makes a product called "Mechanic in a bottle" you drain all the crap gas out and put the MIB in the tank,,, prime the carb, let it set for a while . ( long enough to absorb and desolve all the crud in the tank and carb,, then drain it out and put gas back in and it should start,, worked great on my little tiller,, but I still had to replace the fuel lines that it had disolved

still havn'tgot the gas weed eater going,, but I havn't tried lately either

i hate them dang weed eatewrs when they dont start. i got one of them cheap ones like meller uses. it starts good but the dang line wont feed out. i have to stop and unwind some more line regular. i bought a cub weed eater. it ran good, plenty power ,4 stroke. but the dang line head was a piece of crap. didnt last a good season.ive allways had heck with anything i use seasonal. its sittin around with fuel in em im sure. its me, i dont think about it. hahahathe car is runnin dang good. but i know its usin a bit more gas. i check it often.that mpg is a dang must for me.

Meller, my Mantis 2 stroke tiller runs on 40:1 mix. The big Craftsman weed/brush eater I had in the Sierras used 20:1, and my Homelite chain saw uses 15:1. I'd prefer them all to be 4 stroke engines, too; in fact, I am going to sell the chain saw and the tiller, then no more 2 stroke stuff. For the size of the yard here where we are now, I'm looking at a battery operated combo set: weedeater, blower/vac/mulcher, hedge trimmer.

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Rrumbler - Broken and grouchy, but not dead - yet.
Bangin' and twistin' on stuff for some sixty years or so.

Since my son doesn't have or couldn't find the owners manual I had to do some serious googling and I found out that it does indeed call for 24:1 not 20:1 so I think I'll stick with that and hopefully he will NOT let it get in this condition again.